I started riding in May but in the past 6 weeks I have been having an increasingly difficult time removing the air pump from my tires. So much so that today when I went to fill my tires, I broke both my valve stems trying to remove the pump. Is it the cold weather or something else? Do I have to start putting lubricant on the stems to prevent this? Would that even help?

What type valves?

What exact pump is it?

One thing you may need to do is to loosen the cap that holds the guts of the pump head in place. If the cap is too tight it grabs the valve too tightly.

I often had a difficult time with releasing the pump head and finally went to threadless stems. The head releases easily and I don't have to worry about ripping the stem from the tube anymore.

It has Schrader valve stems and the pump is a RavX Blow X

The only issue I have had is when I screw the Lezyne head on the Presta valve, it closes the valve and I need to take the head off and try again. I have noticed it is more common on Performance tubes. I will try a different brand when I buy more tubes.

Nice pump.

The only time that I saw your problem was when a friend pulled a valve out of the tube.

She had been wiggling the pump head and valve each time she pumped the tube and removed the pump head from the valve.

The valve connection to the tube just worn out from all the wiggling.

Use two hands and press your thumbs on both sides of the pump head and it will not break the valve. You can lube the head but it should wear down over time.